The State of Embedded Open Source Software in 2018

It’s no surprise that the adoption of open source software for embedded development has caught up to the rest of the world – the advantages are just too great – so what data, trends, and lessons can we learn? Like commercial software, open source presents technical, security, and quality challenges but it also adds skills, experience, and maintenance considerations into the mix. As developers of embedded devices with strict resource, performance, and reliability requirements, how do we ensure open source is managed and deployed effectively? Rod Cope, CTO of Rogue Wave Software, discusses the state of open source use in embedded device development today, using statistics, use cases, and examples from around the industry and specific technical support tickets. By delving into popular packages and tools across the application stack, common issues and solutions are extracted to form a representative framework for how open source is used in development environments and production devices. The use of open source has implications for package selection, integration, team staffing, and maintenance, and these topics and more are covered to provide specific best practices for teams to guide their development efforts: • How to identify potential risk areas for your project • Steps to better manage open source within the team • Where to find help if something goes wrong